//------------------------------//
// Bogslime Marsh 
// Story: Unicorn Bells: Starswirl's Tale 
// by Avarick 
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	The colt’s mud-stained hooves calmly made their way through Bogslime Marsh, a place famous for its oversized mushrooms and, of course, the bandit camps that littered the area. Starswirl was a smart pony, of course, and he had already managed to get past two different campsites without being noticed. Yet, he wondered if the bandits he was trying to avoid would welcome a fellow delinquent. These ponies were, after all, also exiled. That’d be the only reason to settle down in such a terrible place.

        “Don’t be foolish,” Starswirl’s grandmother suggested, a few years earlier. “You think you can trust any pony who thinks like you. But you can’t, Starswirl. Those ponies will eventually become your worst enemies, and that’s because of they hold the same goal as you. And we all know, little foal, that two ponies cannot share.” The elderly mare’s argument spun around his head. An exiled pony, after all, needed allies more than any other, so he planned on taking any help he could. That is, if anypony offered it at all, of course.


        
        A day before, though, the unicorn let out a sigh of relief. An unfinished cobbled road led him to a peculiar village. He could see no more than ten wooden buildings built on frail-looking planked platforms. A small lake calmly rolled beneath them as canoes boarded by pony collectors left trails on its surface. The sunlight gleamed on its surface, giving Starswirl a sense of relief and hope. His hooves swiftly cantered along the road as a smile formed on his muzzle. 

As soon as he approached the first wooden platform, a young tan-colored filly approached him. She appeared to be no more than five years of age, and she lacked a horn. This surprised the taller unicorn because, except for that characteristic, this young pony looked like every other unicorn. The earth pony’s forehoof reached out and poked Starswirl’s right hoof, before letting out a giggle. In response, the foreigner decided to smile and stroke the filly’s mane.

“Halt!” an unknown voice cried out, making Starswirl’s head turn. A tall, muscular stallion stood nearby, and he carried a spear. His coat was a dark brown, just like his mane and moustache. “What does a unicorn want from our village?” he asked, before smirking in sudden satisfaction. “Take him to the chief, boys!” he exclaimed. 

On the muscular stallion’s cue, a pair of spear-bearing ponies approached. One of them placed himself in front of the unicorn, while the other one made sure to guard his back. Young Starswirl decided it would be best to stay calm for now, as he didn’t want to be hated by yet another village. The two guard ponies, Starswirl, and what seemed to be the equivalent to a unicorn nation’s guard captain, made their way to the tallest building of them all. Fillies, colts, mares, and stallions all stared at the dangerous magic user as he paraded through town.

“Halt!” the captain yelled once again, and slammed the floor with the blunt end of his spear. The two guards stopped marching and moved aside. Only then could Starswirl see what was before him. He had been taken into a well-lit room, and he stood within a circle of torches. An old pony, older than even his grandmother, sat on a tall chair, decorated with red hoof-painted symbols.

“…Unicorn,” the elder called out after a few incomprehensible mumbles. It was surprising for Starswirl to hear him. Judging on the elderly one’s appearance, it was hard to tell if he was even a pony. His body was round and lumpy, and was lacking most of its natural fur. His snout was malformed and his mouth lacked a few teeth here and there. “Why… Have you come here?” he wheezed, and stopped moving entirely, as if a puppeteer’s hoof had let the strings loose.

Starswirl swallowed. It was clear that unicorns were not welcome in this village, so he had to be careful with what he said. “I come here in peace, great one,” he said, offering a slight reverence. “I wish to live with your people, as my own have decided to get rid of me.” He thought that was a perfect way to address the elder, but he didn’t count on the venerable pony’s quick wit.

“…You say you want to live with us. Share… Our food. Practice our… Rituals,” the chief said, between mumbles and sudden pauses. “Why would we take you, if you do not truly desire this? You… Have left it clear. You simply wish to find refuge, because the unicorns got rid of you.” Starswirl was surprised at the earth pony’s claims. They were all true, and a very good point to make. “…No. We do not take care of what others leave behind… Our village is filled with worthy, respectable ponies… Not the rubbish other tribes decide to leave behind.”




Starswirl sighed, and angrily stomped his hindlegs against the nearest tree. No, he could not take any more chances. Attempting to befriend the bandits camping in the area would get him nowhere farther than them grasping his mother’s bell from his neck, and that was a risk he couldn’t afford taking. He decided to keep going forward, since his logic told him that, eventually, he’d end up either on a road or out of the marsh.

A day had gone by, but the young unicorn was finally far away from the messy pools of goo and the enormous mushrooms. For the first time in days, his eyes caught sight of the setting sun, as he dipped his hooves in the clear, flowing creak. As soon as he made sure the hardened mud was off them, the pony’s tongue began spooning water and launching it into his mouth with ease. 

It always struck Starswirl as a surprise. Every single time somepony becomes thirsty, water has the most delightful taste one could imagine. Yet, if one is no longer thirsty, the taste of the liquid is plain and metallic. This last pair of weeks made him understand that it was not simply water. Everything one knows in life behaves in a different way when you need it, and when you don’t. He realized that he’d do anything to go back to the unicorns’ nation and to be socially discriminated because of his gender, just to be comfortably sitting in front of a fireplace. 

“No,” Starswirl mumbled to himself. “I must stop thinking like this. I have to.” The young pony hopped onto dry grassy ground and smiled at his own reflection in the water. That very moment, his mind began coming up with all sorts of beautiful images. He pictured himself standing in front of a crowd of unicorns and earth ponies, all of which stomped their hooves in applause as they smiled at him. The ponies cried out his name in delight and victory. The young pony then began thinking of his old childhood friend, Bouquet, and the feelings he always had for her but never exposed. He imagined the two of them as older ponies, living in a house built from rock on top of a grassy hillside. Starswirl walked back home, bearing his empty saddlebags, only to be welcome by two little foals and a beautiful mare.

Starswirl shook his head. He had to stay far away from his fantasies, as he’d never achieve anything otherwise. But… What was it that he intended to achieve, again? He did not know. His mother simply told him it was the chance he’d been looking to get. But what’d he use such a chance for? 'Only time will tell,’ he supposed with a shrug.